Today the Danish Industrial Robot Association (DIRA) has awarded Grundfos A/S, the Danish production company of the Grundfos Group, the DIRA Award 2007.

In the motivation it is mentioned that “constant focus on management and build-up of knowledge about production technology has given Grundfos a great competitive advantage”. So far Grundfos has invested in 170 advanced manufacturing facilities including industrial robots at the Danish plants.

Furthermore, Grundfos is recognized of having reduced load on the production employees through a proactive effort, because the robots have taken over among other things monotonous repeated work and heavy lifts. And as Grundfos is a continuously growing business it has not been necessary to close down workplaces as a consequence of investments in production equipment with industrial robots.

Managing Director of Grundfos A/S, the Group’s Danish production company, and newly appointed member of Group Management, Mr Lars Aagaard was the receiver of the award. He received the award because “he has a very large share in the determination of Grundfos’ strategy, its implementation and the subsequent great results”.

”During the latest four years Mr Aagaard has been manager of more than 4,000 employees, and significant results has been obtained through optimization of interdisciplinary processes, competent employee involvement and implication of supplier competences. The productivity rise during these four years has been 30%, and the current productivity rise that Grundfos obtains is exemplary”, the motivation says.

In his speech of thanks Mr Aagaard said that it is of great importance to an innovative and highly technological company such as Grundfos to receive an award from the Danish Industrial Robot Association the aim of which is to contribute to improving the competitiveness on the international markets by means of introduction of robot technology.

”Being the largest production company of the group we must ensure our own competitiveness and at the same time contribute substantially to the competitiveness of the whole group. The strategic aiming at robot technology has certainly strengthened Grundfos A/S, when we consider the important competitive parameters such as prices, productivity, quality, delivery times and performance and flexibility”, Mr Aagaard states.